I just received Harry Lorayne's The Classic Collection. What a nice whopper of a book. The hundreds of photos are a great addition, the updates are fun to read, and, if you ever owned the originals, you know this book contains some of the greatest card tricks ever put between two covers. Much to enjoy!

Tough question. First, I received the book only yesterday, so haven't re-read it entirely. I previously owned only Close-up Card Magic, so much of this book is new to me. The final section of the book contains 16 tricks that are new to everyone. So far (in my reading) the text portion of the updates deals mainly with how a certain trick has played in the past 40 years (as opposed to providing radically new methods). Harry is chatty as usual, and these comments are entertaining. Part of the updates is the addition of credits. (Those I read with some amusement, because, and I say this with absolute affection for Harry and esteem for what he has contributed to making these tricks play, but you know how humble he is.) The most valuable part of the updating is the addition of hundreds of photos. I've been doing one trick from Close-up Card Magic for over 40 years (I won't say which), and one of the photos is going to make me change that trick for the better. So, I guess your answer depends on what you want from the book. I've been spending most of my time so far revisiting the old stuff, and it's such great stuff. This is the kind of magic I enjoy doing for laymen, much of it requiring a bit of thinking on your feet. As a book, I always favor hardbacks over soft, so it's nice to get five books compiled into one handsome edition. The original started me on a lifetime of pleasure, so I have great affection for this material. I have a wall full of hardback magic books, and if I had to choose one as the "best" book of card tricks, this for me is the easy winner.

I seem to recall from his Genii ad that Harry Lorayne accepts paypal for the Classic Collection. I don't have Genii in front of me. Could someone let me know how much the book is (including the extra paypal charge) and the proper email address.

Could someone be so kind as to describe for me the back of the jacket on Lorayne's Classic Collection book? A photo of Harry, perhaps? What's he wearing, and what's in his mouth? Is any credit given to a photographer, with this photo or perhaps inside the jacket?

Why do I ask, you may wonder. Let's just say I'm trying to make sure credit is given where credit is due. I'll tell all soon enough.

On the back jacket cover of my copy of Classic Collection, I see a younger Harry Lorayne. Large glasses, a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He's doing an in-the-hands riffle shuffle and the cards are face-up. He looks like he could be standing behind a counter in a magic store, but that's just a guess. There is a table or counter in front of him, and books behind him.

On the inside of the back jacket, I see: "jacket design by Lindsay Holmes". Inside the book it says "Photographs by Robin Chanatawan Deisgn and Composition by Andrew J. Pinard"

fyi, I made the photograph Mr. Lorayne used on the back cover of this book. It shows him in spring, 1974, I believe, working behind the counter at the old Tannen's, the shop that was on the 17th floor of a showbiz building in Times Square, more or less where the Virgin megastore is now, if I'm not mistaken.

John- When you gave me the two photos of Harry Lorayne approx. 2 years ago, I said I would give them to him the next day at his house as I had to stop over anyway. I did indeed give them to him but I don't recall seeing your name on them as the photographer. The photos were indeed taken behind the counter of Tannen's Magic Shop when they were located at 1540 Broadway. ALSO....It is a 99% sure bet that they were taken on a Saturday as Harry would hold court behind the counter doing and selling stuff from his books. Note...Harry never actually worked at Tannen's as an employee.

I snapped Harry Lorayne's photo back in 1974, as described. A couple of years ago, I came across the negatives, whose existence I had forgotten, and made two large prints - 11x14-inches - in my own darkroom. Just for him. I wrote my name and telephone number on the back of these prints. In permanent ink. I passed the prints to Mr. Lorayne via an intermediary - Mr. Edwards. I had quietly hoped, back then, that I might hear from Mr. Lorayne - a mere thanks for the good photos, say. This is, after all, my favorite magician, the guy I learned so much from and thought - and still think - so much of. Fans always like to hear from the stars they admire, I figure, and vice-versa. I heard nothing.

Then, recently, I learned that Mr. Lorayne had used my photo quite prominently on his new book. He did this without asking me for or receiving my permission to use the image and without crediting me as the photographer and owner of the image. I made contact with Mr. Lorayne by post. But he has declined, in his reply to me, to thank me, to acknowledge that I ever gave him any photo, or to compensate me (least of all with a copy of his book.) All of which leaves me quite disappointed and, I must say, saddened.

I just saw this thread. Just to keep the record straight...When I did Volume 1 I dug through about 1000 photos of myself that people had given me over the years. I selected the one that's on the rear cover of LORAYNE: THE CLASSIC COLLECTION, Vol. 1. I had absolutely no idea as to who took the photo. I'd spent a couple of hours looking over all of them and most didn't have the photographer's name on it. I always like to give credit - IF I KNOW THAT CREDIT. When John Verity told me that he had taken the photo, it was, obviously too late to do anything about it. But - when I did Volume 2, I made it a point TO REPEAT THE PHOTO inside the book SO THAT I COULD GIVE JOHN THE CREDIT. That credit is in Volume 2. Whew!!! HL.